Combined letter and envelop



p UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIAS B. GIJEASON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

COMBINED LETTER AND ENVELOP.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,242, dated March 15, 1859.

To all whom fit may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIAS B. GLnAsoN, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new or Improved Combined Letter and Envelop; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, of which- Figures l, 2, 3, 4 and 5, are plans of the same, in. which various modes of shaping the letter or billet portion and disposing the same with respect to the envelop are exhibited. Fig. (3, represents a common billet with a single iap and is introduced in order to more clearly illustrate the difference between it and my invention or what may be considered novel in the latter.

rllhe object of my invention is to combine a letter or billet and its envelop in one sheet of paper in order that the envelop may be permanently fixed to the letter and retain the address and post office mark or marks after it may have passed through the mail.

Then the letter and envelop are unattached or separate from one another, the post mark is never connected with the letter and therefore often fails as legal evidence of the time of mailing of the same. It is therefore a matter of importance to have the envelop and the letter connected or form part of one and the same sheet of paper.

In Fig. G, a common letter sheet A, hav ing a. single sealing Hap, e, attached or projecting from one edge is shown, such being common in the market and differing inalterially from my invention in which there is attached to the letter sheet, A, an envelop B, composed of a superscription leaf, (Z, furnished with three sealing flaps, c, c, f, arranged on it, or with respect to it as shown in Figs. l, 2, 3, 4, and 5, which exhibit the letter sheet in an unfolded state and with lines across it to indicate the lines where the folds are to be made.

In Fig. l, the letter sheet, A, may be said to be composed of the two parts, a, o, the part, a, being folded over on the part, Z), preparatory to being written. Afterward the part, A, may be folded upon the part, (Z, and the flaps, c, f, turned down upon it and one on the other one being made to lap on the other'a short distance. At the place where they lap, they may be cemented together. Next, the flap, e, may be turned down on the others and the letter, A, and sealed to the other flaps or to the same and to the letter or to the letter alone as may be deemed necessary.

Fig. 2, exhibits the arr: ngement of the letter and the envelop, when the former is to be folded twice preparatory to being folded upon and into t-he latter, that is, the half sheet, r', l1., folds over upon the half, a, and next, a, g, folds upon, 7L.

Figs. 3, and, et, indicate two different forms whereby the letter sheet may 'be folded three times before being folded into or upon the envelop. In Fig. 3, the half sheet 7J, g, It, folds upon the half sheet, z' a ZJ. Next, /c fi, is to be folded upon, g, and finally another fold is to be made so as to bring z', into contact with or lie upon, It. In Fig. 4, one of the third parts, r/ lz', or 'i Z2, is to be folded down upon, a b. Next, the other of the first two third parts is to bc fol'dcd down upon its fellow. Next, the whole are to be folded in the middle or between the parts, (A

Fig. 5, represents the letter sheet and envelop arranged so as to admit the former to be folded four times before being folded upon the envelop. In each of the gures A, denotes the letter sheet and B, the envelop, the latter being composed of the part, (Z, and the fiaps, c, e, f. In Fig. 5, first turn down Z, m., upon g, i?, and next proceed to fold as above described with respect to Fig. Lt.

In Fig. G, the half, i a g, folds upon the half Z) lz'. Next z' and 71:, and g, and 7L, are similarly folded over a. Finally, one more fold is made of the whole so as to properly arrange the lapped portion for the flap c, to be turned down upon it. The disadvantages of the plan shown in Fig. (i, with reference to my improvement as shown by the other figures will be readily apparent to most if not all business men or other persons. One great advantage of my plan being that by use of it, the post mark may be easily separated from the letter whenever necessary or desirable to do so. In some cases the two flaps o, and f, may be dispensed with, but, generally, it is preferable to retain them as they materially aid in preventing the contents of the letter from being seen or discovered.

I do not claim combining with the letter I with respect to the letter or billet portion, A, 10 sheet, the single triangular Hup arranged as substantially as described. 4 shown in Fig. 6, but In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set wWhat I do Claim ismy signature. The combination therewith (that is the i letter sheet) of the envelop, B, composed of the si'lperscription and post niark portion ci, and the Single flap, e, or the saune and the two flaps c, and f, arranged together and ELIAS B. GLEASON.

Vitnessies :y

R. H. EDDY, ARTHUR NEILL. 

